A review by bookdeviant
Murder at Broad River Bridge: The Slaying of Lemuel Penn by the Ku Klux Klan by Bill Shipp
3.0
I would like to thank the University of Georgia Press for allowing me to have a copy of this book via NetGalley.
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I have many conflicting thoughts on this novel. In the end, it's really just an average novel, nothing too impressive, and, despite my initial interest, it really wasn't that interesting.
Murder at Broad River Bridge focuses on the civil rights issues during the time period, but one of my biggest issues with this book is how it brushes over these important problems. Shipp would speak on the issues on how it related in Georgia, but he never went on to explain anything else. It felt like he was dismissing the importance. Shipp brushed over basically anything and everything that was included, so it was basically like getting a short overview of the events, rather than getting a detailed account.
While I appreciated some of the proclamations denouncing the KKK in this book, it ultimately amounted to nothing. Having those proclamations in the introduction, only to have the epilogue say why our country would never get rid of the KKK and white supremacists felt counter-productive. I know that it's non-fiction, but it could have at least ended on a hopeful note for things to get better, rather than comparing the KKK to a cancer returning from remission at full force. (Not a joke.)
There were phrases that were repeated often, like Shipp forgot what he had previously written, and the book was so short that I don't think it even hit the 100 page mark. Considering the proclamations in the beginning taking up 10 pages, as well as the long epilogue, it's almost like Shipp was looking to make a grand statement rather than educate.
Another small thing that really bothered me was a certain wording in the epilogue. Shipp describes the KKK as "coming out of the closet" and, while it's a common phrase, it hit me fairly hard that I had to stop reading. "Coming out of the closet" is a phrase commonly associated with the LGBT+ community, and having that phrase also used with the KKK, a gross, white supremacist group, hurt me. I don't want anything in the LGBT+ community to be associated with them, and that wording needs to be fixed.
three stars - Overall?
Shipp was probably hoping to document an important event in the history of the US and it's history with the KKK. However, he blithely brushed over the importance by not staying focused. The repetition of phrases only showed how much he really didn't pay attention. It could have been better, but it wasn't a terrible read that I regret entirely. It just could have been better thought out.
Would I Recommend?
I feel like there are better books out there to educate on murders during the civil rights era and the KKK. This book might be a good place to start, as there are further reading recommendations in the back, but I would definitely recommend reading more than just this.
Trigger warnings for murder, violence, racism, white supremacy, race violence, and the n-word slur.
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I have many conflicting thoughts on this novel. In the end, it's really just an average novel, nothing too impressive, and, despite my initial interest, it really wasn't that interesting.
Murder at Broad River Bridge focuses on the civil rights issues during the time period, but one of my biggest issues with this book is how it brushes over these important problems. Shipp would speak on the issues on how it related in Georgia, but he never went on to explain anything else. It felt like he was dismissing the importance. Shipp brushed over basically anything and everything that was included, so it was basically like getting a short overview of the events, rather than getting a detailed account.
While I appreciated some of the proclamations denouncing the KKK in this book, it ultimately amounted to nothing. Having those proclamations in the introduction, only to have the epilogue say why our country would never get rid of the KKK and white supremacists felt counter-productive. I know that it's non-fiction, but it could have at least ended on a hopeful note for things to get better, rather than comparing the KKK to a cancer returning from remission at full force. (Not a joke.)
There were phrases that were repeated often, like Shipp forgot what he had previously written, and the book was so short that I don't think it even hit the 100 page mark. Considering the proclamations in the beginning taking up 10 pages, as well as the long epilogue, it's almost like Shipp was looking to make a grand statement rather than educate.
Another small thing that really bothered me was a certain wording in the epilogue. Shipp describes the KKK as "coming out of the closet" and, while it's a common phrase, it hit me fairly hard that I had to stop reading. "Coming out of the closet" is a phrase commonly associated with the LGBT+ community, and having that phrase also used with the KKK, a gross, white supremacist group, hurt me. I don't want anything in the LGBT+ community to be associated with them, and that wording needs to be fixed.
three stars - Overall?
Shipp was probably hoping to document an important event in the history of the US and it's history with the KKK. However, he blithely brushed over the importance by not staying focused. The repetition of phrases only showed how much he really didn't pay attention. It could have been better, but it wasn't a terrible read that I regret entirely. It just could have been better thought out.
Would I Recommend?
I feel like there are better books out there to educate on murders during the civil rights era and the KKK. This book might be a good place to start, as there are further reading recommendations in the back, but I would definitely recommend reading more than just this.
Trigger warnings for murder, violence, racism, white supremacy, race violence, and the n-word slur.